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Aviation in East, North-East reviewed

       Kolkata: The Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation met here on Monday to review the development of aviation infrastructure in the East and the North-East. In his welcome address Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said that North-Eastern is one of the few regions where economic activity and connectivity are not satisfactory. The development of the Eastern region is important since all the regions are linked, Patel said, adding efforts are on to increase connectivity to these regions. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) operates and manages 22 airports and civil enclaves in the 8 States of the North East Region, the Committee members were informed. During the10th Five Year Plan AAI will spend about Rs. 125 crores on modernisation, upgradation and improvement of facilities in the North-East Region. New Terminal Buildings have been completed at Lilabari and Dimapur expansion of Terminal building at Guwahati and Silchar have also been completed. Strengthening and extension of runway for A-320 operation has been completed at Dimapur, Agartala, Imphal, Lilabari airports while work is in progress for extension and strengthening of runway at Silchar, Dibrugarh and Guwahati airports. AAI has also prepared detailed project report for construction of a Greenfield airport in Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs. 340 crores. The Sikkim Government has requested AAI to take up this work as deposit work and has assured to provide Rs. 100 crores along with the required land. AAI has prepared a detailed Techno-feasibility report along with estimate and has forwarded it to the State Government and the Planning Commission. The sites for construction of Greenfield airport near Kohima and Itanagar have also been identified for ATR-72 operation. In the Eastern region AAI operates and maintains five airports in Bihar, two each in Jharkhand and Orissa and six in West Bengal. During the 10th Five Year Plan the capital investment in the airports of the Eastern region will be around Rs. 315.45 crores including Rs. 224.20 for the Kolkata Airport. AAI is making consistent efforts to develop and augment the Communication Navigation System (CNS) Infrastructure for meeting the growing demand of aviation activities and in the Eastern and North-Eastern part of the country. Navigational facilities such as ILS, DVOR and DMEs have been provided at various airports. The future projects of AAI in these regions are - new Radar at Jharsuguda and Katihar; Radar replacement at Guwahati; ILS at Kolkata, Gaya, Lilabari and Silchar; DVOR at Dimapur and Lengqui in Aizwal; CCTV at Bhubhaneshwar, Patna and Port Blair.

       The Committee on Infrastructure under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister during its 12th meeting held on June 8, 2006, decided that "Developments of Airports in the North-Eastern region must be taken up by the AAI on priority basis". In the Eastern region Aircraft Movement in 2005-06 registered a 14.7 percent growth. Passenger traffic grew by 23.9 percent while cargo traffic grew by 6.7 percent in the same period. The Director General of Civil Aviation informed the committee that in the Winter Schedule of 2006 there is an increase of 49 frequencies of flights in the North Eastern region including 20 by Alliance Air, seven each by Jet and Sahara Airways, 10 by Air Deccan, one by Kingfisher Airlines and four by Spice Jet. He also informed that as part of the initiatives of the Government to improve air connectivity in the North-East, the Government has granted initial NoC in August 2006 to M/s. Sky King Aviation to operate scheduled air services exclusively within the North-East region. The airlines has initial plans to operate air services to/from Agartala, Aizwal, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Leelabari, Silchar, Dimapur, Imphal, Shillong and Tura. Proposal of M/s. Surya Air is also under consideration for non scheduled operations with short haul feeder air services in the North-East region. The airline has plans to provide air connectivity to Agartala, Aizwal, Bagdogra, Dimapur, Imphal, Leelabari and Silchar.
-Sept 11,  2006

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